Changing roles - going on the dole

Changing roles - going on the dole


Edwin McGreal
Tuesday, February 23

I've just lost my job. The carpet has been pulled from under me. I've been told that my services are no longer required. Thanks but no thanks. The editor called me into his office and landed the bombshell in front of me.
To make matters worse I was so sure of my job security that I have just moved out from home into a plush apartment in Castlebar.
I decided to take the plunge and the extra cost, apparently safe in the knowledge that I had a regular income.
Well I will have a regular income. But it won't be what I was used to. Now I will have to survive on ¤197 per week. All my car costs, the food costs, loan and direct debit payments and a lot of the costs of living in my new apartment will have to be pruned from the allowance the Government give the hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in this country.
Hopefully I will be able to claim some rent allowance to help with the apartment. I'm not sure where to start. The newspaper industry, like so many, isn't as buoyant as it once was. I'm told that's why I lost my job. Cutbacks. Nothing personal. I'm sure it wasn't but it's kinda scary looking out into the abyss, not sure what is in front of you.
It’s an abyss I'm somewhat familiar with. A return from Australia in November 2008 saw me land back in Ireland at exactly the wrong time to be seeking a job. It was six months before I got somewhere. Luckily I was living at home so was spared the worst extremes of the unemployed existence. But the boredom of the empty days, the frustrations of the jobseeking, the constant sending of CVs, these are feelings I can readily identify with.
But I did have the home comforts, dinner cooked for me or free ingredients for me to cook, parents car to drive, parents Sky TV to while away the days. Can I survive for a week now with none of the above? On my own in an empty apartment with just four walls for company. €197 to spread over the week and cover ALL of my costs. I'm not so sure. One thing is for sure – I’m glad it will only be for a week.
See next week's Mayo News to see how Edwin McGreal fared out on the dole for a week as we look in greater detail at unemployment in Mayo, or read his blog here.


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